


Mhi Rucuyanir Hettyc

by scrapmetal



Series: Tied to Alum Malvo [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Gen, Nonbinary Character, also sazdu... im rly bad at names give me a break, don't really know how to tag this but w/e, i dont have a last name for renra yet but i would like her to come back, its an oc fic lol, its my first fic with these characters so like... read around and find out. take a chance, only tagging characters that might come back up in later fics which are most of the named ones, when in doubt all my ocs are trans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2020-04-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:35:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23629342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scrapmetal/pseuds/scrapmetal
Summary: (Title means "we survived [the] burning")There was not much time to think as the sound of constant fire from some new, horrible imperial weapon wrecked its way through the compound. Younglings screamed as stormtroopers rounded corners into view and lasers nipped at beskar clad limbs.The Empire strikes quickly and without remorse, no matter how far from Mandalore you are. The only thing you can do is protect the younglings and hope.
Series: Tied to Alum Malvo [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1700968
Kudos: 13





	Mhi Rucuyanir Hettyc

**Author's Note:**

> Hover for Mando'a translations, if that doesn't work translations will be in the end notes (and more accurate in general). I've been building up a collection of one-shots about these OCs, this one just happened to be finished first. I made a series for them, so if you're interested, scrubscribe. Alum's the one being followed in all this and their story spans from the very end of the Clone Wars to the time of the Mandalorian tv show (so far, haven't thought about old person Alum). Hopefully this is a good intro, I write these things so they're able to be read independently.

Alum shook their head under their brand new helmet, made for them by their now official . It still felt strange, they still weren’t used to it, but despite the effort and care that went into making it, their  felt painfully weak when placed against the chaos that they knew was soon approaching them. 

The helmet, while beautifully shaped and painted carefully by Alum’s entire adoptive family, was made of durasteel, not the nigh-indestructible beskar that most  were made of. It was no fault of their family, no fault of the tribe, but the fault of the Empire that had betrayed the people. It leeched on the precious resource more and more as it progressed, up to the point where the Empire had more beskar than its traditional forgers. 

The Empire was what Alum was waiting for, dual blasters in hand. They were tasked to protect the younglings and elders hiding in the lowest bowels of the compound. Along with other young adults that were old enough to own their own armor but young enough not to be expected to fight. That's why they were all the way down here, protecting the most important part of the tribe along with the metallic infrastructure around them. When the teens were set to their posts, they were told that they would probably only need to deal with any singular trooper that got a bit too ambitious, but as the compound shook around them, it was clear something was going wrong. 

Most things were still as the small line of teenagers waited, poised. Alum’s heart broke as they heard the quiet whimpering of Phee, a very recently found foundling whose trust in his new invincible family was violently shattered. Alum didn’t have to turn around to know that he was being cradled by his finder, their bond all too new for the comforting motions to do much good. 

Beside them, Alum could hear the low voice of Renra trying to tell Alum’s brother Keen a joke. Renra was a foundling about the same age as Alum, but she had come to live with the tribe much earlier than they had. She was very boisterous and lighthearted, and although Alum didn’t like her much at first, they’d come to appreciate her company, the company of someone their own age. It was something they hadn’t had for the longest time. At the moment though, as much as Alum appreciated Renra’s efforts to keep the atmosphere light, they sorely wished that it was actually working. 

A figure came scrambling down the darkened hallway towards the small bunker, but even as the guard tightened their grips on their weapons, it was easy to see that this was a friend. 

“Evacuate! We can't-- get everyone into a ship!” They said, panting. And as they grew closer, Alum recognized who it was. Sazdu.

Usually foundlings were raised by their finders, but of course, there were situations where that did not happen. Sometimes the finder was unable to take care of a youngling, sometimes the finder had died in the process of rescuing the foundling, but other times, the foundling refused the parenthood of their finder. 

Alum didn’t quite refuse the care of Sazdu, but after they’d proclaimed that their finder had been behind the death of their previous caretaker, a silent decision had been made. Sazdu had taken care of Alum for a week before they were handed off to their . During that week there was a permanent silence between the two, Sazdu tried their best to parent to their full Mandalorian capability while Alum seethed in their anger towards them.

Sazdu was the only reason Alum was even a Mandalorian in the first place though. From when they refused to take Alum in as a bounty to when they argued for Alum’s right to be found despite their age and the fact that they were previously a jedi’s padawan, Sazdu was the reason they were there. 

Sazdu always kept a respectable distance from Alum, understanding their hatred, but Alum had suspected for years that they had been trying their best to help from the background. As Alum grew older, the pressure to swear to the Creed only grew stronger, and though being under the care of the  made it hard for them to be kicked out, they had a suspicion that Sazdu was the reason whispers about Alum’s age suddenly stopped. When Alum found some useful notes on proper Mando’a grammar lying on a piece of flimsi slid under their door, when a clip of slugthrower bullets showed up on their workstation near the forge, when a datachip full of historical Mandalorian art showed up when they started painting their durasteel, Alum knew it was Sazdu.

Alum destroyed the first gifts they had received, quickly and without remorse. But once the gifts became defending Alum’s place in the Tribe, they paused, and started thinking. 

Sazdu’s presence in Alum’s life never grew. As Alum grew themself, their mind turned on the possibility of forgiving Sazdu, of what forgiveness meant, and how the circumstances to their finding kept them from swearing to the . 

Now that Sazdu was standing right in front of Alum, this was all on the forefront of their mind, even more so than the imminent danger. They were frozen, the train of thought forced into their mind, but then the screams became close enough to hear. 

“Let's go! Hurry!” Alum shouted somewhat redundantly, holstering a blaster and scampering into action to take a small youngling out of the weaker arms of an elder. 

Everyone seemed to look at Alum for guidance in this time, being the eldest child of the , and Alum silently worried about how they all seemed to forget that they'd only worn their helmet for a few months. 

The younglings continued to be the priority of the small group, but Alum’s stomach sank as they realized the few elders were turning to fight. There was little time to argue, and as parents returned to their younglings and retreated into the fleeing group, Alum realized what had happened. 

There was not much time to think as the sound of constant fire from some new, horrible imperial weapon wrecked its way through the compound. Younglings screamed as stormtroopers rounded corners into view and lasers nipped at beskar clad limbs. When the ship was finally in sight, Alum let out a relieved breath. The group of younglings was a lot more scattered than it was initially, and Alum waited outside the ship with the other teens and Sazdu as long as they could before it was clear that no one remained in the compound but stormtroopers and dead bodies. 

The wait to board was probably a bit too long, a bit too hopeful. As the guard waited for precious seconds for someone, anyone, to come out of the fray, bolts started to land on both the ship and the Mandalorians who waited. The ship didn’t take any damage, but, one by one, as the teens went up the ramp, cries of pain became much more common. 

Alum was one of the last to enter the ship, when the ramp was about a foot off the floor. They continued looking out towards the sea of stormtroopers, searching for the golden helmet of their . They knew that she was not coming, if she were alive she would be hiding behind the walls of the forge, waiting for the stormtroopers to leave to reclaim the beskar that protected the lives they lost. Alum still clung on to the childish hope for confirmation that she was alive. They wanted desperately to see her running towards the ship, ready to greet her children. 

Sazdu was the last to enter the ship, as that's how it seemed to be going with them. Their entrance was calculated, slipping their way in after Alum right before it became impossible for them to fit. They sat there, sprawled on the gangplank, and Alum could see smoke coming out of a hole in their left leg.

Alum drew in a sharp breath. “ _Shit_. Are you okay?”

Sazdu was silent for a few seconds, and Alum knew they were looking them over.

“Yeah, yeah. Go check on the kids.”

Alum paused for a second, but decided the wound wasn’t bad enough for them to worry, not that they had much more than basic medical training.

Everything in the hold seemed to be going alright, considering. Phee was asleep, his frustrated crying ran out on its own. The low density of people was worrying, very worrying, but there were other ships that were scattered around the compound, and Alum held hope that those had been utilized once the others realized that this was not a battle they would win.

Injuries were being tended to, and right before Alum could suggest someone go help Sazdu, they appeared in the doorway, helmet off, a strained smile on their face. 

Everyone looked up, and again they emphasised the fact that they were fine. 

Alum frowned at that, but figured it was out of their hands. They spotted Keen, sitting in a corner and treating a small burn on his arm. 

  
  


“” Alum asked, turning to take off their helmet and hide their small smirk.

Keen paused his work and gave Alum an incredulous look. “”

Alum humphed at Keen’s sarcasm and the two settled into a comfortable silence, Alum dozing off at the hum of the ship under them.

“Alum, can I talk to you privately?” 

Alum startled awake at the sound of Sazdu’s voice, looking around to see Keen drooling on their shoulder. Shrugging him off, Alum stood. 

“Uh, where should we..?”

Sazdu led them to a small closet-sized room filled with cleaning supplies. They held out their helmet and looked directly into Alum’s eyes. “I want you to have this.”

Alum flinched at the sudden eye contact and frowned. “You should really get it checked but I do not think that leg wound is fatal.” 

“I’m not dying, Alum, I’m…”

“” Alum asked, stunned.

Sazdu nodded. “I… I just…”

“You don’t have to tell me, I don’t-”

“No, you need to hear. Look. When I found you… Something changed. You were right, you know. I didn’t kill your guardian, but I helped. I taught the other bounty hunters how to kill a jedi.”

Alum stared.

“I’ve always wanted… You’ve always been important to me, Alum. Ever since I found you. That’s why I led you to Keen and let you join the Malvo clan. We all knew I couldn’t raise you. But ever since that incident I’ve thought about leaving. I had to make sure you were okay though, even from a distance. I’m not a Mandalorian though, not after that.”

Alum looked down at the Sazdu’s helmet. “,” they said, tears in their eyes, “ _vor entye_.”

Sazdu smiled, eyes sparkling with tears, “.”

**Author's Note:**

> After writing this I realized for Alum to be as young as they are in this it'd have to take place a few years before the Great Purge. Whoops! Their tribe lives in an offworld compound though so maybe the Empire targeted stuff like that first idk. Almost put this in the beginning notes but then I remembered I probably shouldn't reveal my doubts about my own work before anyone even reads it. 
> 
> Translations:  
> Buir- Parent  
> Buy'ce- Helmet  
> Alor- Tribe leader, chief, etc.  
> Resol'nare- Six Actions, the tenets of Mando life  
> Me'vaar ti gar?- What's new with you?  
> Naasad naas.- Absolutely nothing, lit. "not any nothing"  
> Gar copaanir dar'manda?- You want to be not Mandalorian, someone who lost their heritage? (I tried to say "you're becoming dar'manda?" but i couldn't figure out how to say become... also this is probably really bad grammar. I'm not a Mando'a expert sorry.)  
> Vor entye- Thank you (lit. I accept a debt)  
> Ba'gedet'ye- You're welcome


End file.
